The Book That Broke the World - (The Library Trilogy) by Mark Lawrence

About the Book

"The Library of Alexandria died in fire. Others fade away with less drama, ignored, forgotten, left to dust. To the athenaeum though, the great library of which all others are echoes, fires are merely a temporary inconvenience. The only true threat to the library's existence is a book--the one Livira wrote. Livira's book also brought her together with Evar, a young man who was raised in the library itself, and they discovered secrets that no one else had uncovered. But now they are separated--and something hunts them both"--

Book Synopsis

Two people living in a world connected by an immense and mysterious library must fight for those they love in the second book in a new trilogy from the international bestselling author of The Book That Wouldn't Burn.

The Library spans worlds and times. It touches and joins distant places. It is memory and future. And amid its vastness Evar Eventari both found, and lost, Livira Page.

Evar has been forced to flee the library, driven before an implacable foe. Livira, trapped in a ghost world, has to recover the book she wrote--one which is the only true threat to the library's existence--if she's to return to her life.

While Evar's journey leads him outside into a world he's never seen, Livira's path will taker her deep inside her own writing, where she must wrestle with her stories in order to reclaim the volume in which they were written.

The secret war that defines the library has chosen its champions and set them on the board. The time has come when they must fight for what they believe, or lose everything.

Review Quotes

"Lawrence makes the intertwining stories fascinating and propulsive, with enough scattered clues and shocking twists to keep the pages flying. This will keep readers up long past their bedtime." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"This is a wonderfully immersive fantasy whose meta message, about the power of books to change the world, is not to be missed." - Library Journal

"Mark Lawrence strikes the perfect balance between intellect and heart in this second volume of his Library Trilogy." - Grimdark Magazine

"This is Lawrence at this best....absolutely brilliant book, go, read." - SFF Reviews

Praise for The Book That Wouldn't Burn

"The most tightly plotted novel I've ever had the pleasure of reading...it's truly magnificent." - BookRiot

"This tale of knowledge and its cost flies by thanks to the gripping mystery and beautiful worldbuilding...Readers will be desperate for more." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Gripping, earnest, and impeccably plotted." - Kirkus (starred review)

"A fantastic setting, a feisty heroine, and hints of a deeper mystery that calls to mind the depths of Frank Herbert's Dune and its intertwined cultural and religious issues." - Library Journal

"Reading Mark Lawrence's latest novel, The Book that Wouldn't Burn, feels like having your mind blown in slow motion." - Grimdark Magazine

About the Author

Mark Lawrence was born in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, to British parents but moved to the UK at the age of one. After earning a PhD in mathematics at Imperial College London, he went back to the US to work on a variety of research projects, including the "Star Wars" missile-defense program. Since returning to the UK, he has worked mainly on image processing and decision/reasoning theory. He never had any ambition to be a writer, so he was very surprised when a half-hearted attempt to find an agent turned into a global publishing deal overnight. His first trilogy, The Broken Empire, has been universally acclaimed as a groundbreaking work of fantasy, and both Emperor of Thorns and The Liar's Key have won the David Gemmell Legend Award for best fantasy novel. Mark is married, with four children, and lives in Bristol.